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Philippine radio rejects hijack phone-hogging claim
AFP - Wednesday, September 22
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Philippine radio rejects hijack phone-hogging claim
MANILA (AFP) - – A Philippine radio station on Tuesday rejected accusations that its live interviews with a hostage-taker holding a busload of Hong Kong tourists had prevented a negotiator from contacting him.
Aquilino Pimentel, lawyer for Radio Mindanao Network, criticised an official inquiry's call for three of its staff to be prosecuted for holding phone interviews with the hostage-taker. Eight tourists were killed in the fiasco.
The probe accused the radio station of monopolising the phone link to the hostage-taker and stopping a police negotiator from getting through to him to put forward a deal. The hijacker began shooting shortly afterwards.
"The interview by (radio reporter) Michael Rogas gave the hostages an extra few hours to live," Pimentel, a former senator, told the station.
The official inquiry into the disaster, released on Monday, also called for the country's top three television networks to be punished, saying their reports allowed the hijacker to follow police movements on the bus television set.
The networks declined immediate comment on the inquiry, which recommended prosecutions against 13 people including police officers, government officials, and media employees deemed culpable for the bloodbath.
Media associations warned against charging journalists, saying this would result in journalists muzzling themselves.
"There is a risk here that journalists and media organisations may be made scapegoats," the Asia-Pacific office of the International Federation of Journalists said in a statement.
The inquiry's findings also presented a scathing indictment of the police response to the August 23 hijacking, accusing the force of negligence, insubordination and failing to gather intelligence as the crisis unfolded. Related article: Philippines calls for charges over hijacking fiasco
Ex-policeman Rolando Mendoza hijacked the busload of tourists in central Manila, aiming to force the government to give him his job back after he was sacked for alleged extortion.
Eight of the tourists and the hostage-taker were killed and seven other hostages were wounded after day-long negotiations broke down. The bungled police rescue bid was aired live on global television.
Justice Secretary Leila de Lima, who headed the inquiry, said that her panel had recommended specific charges against the officials and broadcasters but that the type of charges were not being made public.
This would give President Benigno Aquino more leeway to act upon them, possibly rejecting charges or even seeking stronger penalties than those recommended, she said.
Retired national police chief Jesus Verzosa, one of the officials mentioned in the report, is confident that he will not be found liable, his spokesman Benjamin de los Santos said.
"He followed the manual and standards and international protocols on hostage situations," de los Santos said.
Metro Manila police chief Leocadio Santiago however said that he would accept his fate.
"I'm a professional career officer and I would follow the decision of President Aquino or my superiors with regard to my alleged involvement in the incident," he told reporters.
The Philippine Star said in an editorial that the government should act to improve public safety after the botched handling of the siege.
"The speed of the probe was unprecedented. What follows next should be an equally speedy and credible determination of culpability, so that corresponding penalties can be imposed," it added.
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